Pupils turning up to their lessons 'drugged' up...

I'm an NQT in a challenging London school and have had a few of kids turned up totally off their faces on drugs. Any advice on how to deal with it? The issue is that I can't 'prove' it and I have to be very careful with the way I deal with things because some of these kids are very volatile.

Any suggestions?! I guess I should add that they are not being particularly disruptive, it's just rather unnerving more than anything.

I'm an NQT in a challenging London school and have had a few of kids turned up totally off their faces on drugs. Any advice on how to deal with it? The issue is that I can't 'prove' it and I have to be very careful with the way I deal with things because some of these kids are very volatile.

Any suggestions?! I guess I should add that they are not being particularly disruptive, it's just rather unnerving more than anything.

Thia needs to be dealt with as and when it occurs. Treat each problem as a normal incident as cornel suggests but if they are completely unable to follow instructions you must follow up by reporting to SMT.

What if SMT don't deal with the problems, ignore the fact that the pupils have no control over themselves and deflect the blame back onto the teacher?

What would you do, MagicClass, if you were in the OP's position, called for SMT and were told, "If the lesson was more engaging this wouldn't happen", or, "try listening to the pupils instead of asking us to deal with it. You are not meeting their needsd" (despite obvious behaviour that shows they are on something)?

What would you do, MagicClass, if you were in the OP's position, called for SMT and were told, "If the lesson was more engaging this wouldn't happen", or, "try listening to the pupils instead of asking us to deal with it. You are not meeting their needsd"

I've tried the 'Could you give a demonstration lesson with this class so that I can learn form your good practice' approach

Gary
"What if SMT don't deal with the problems, ignore the fact that the pupils have no control over themselves and deflect the blame back onto the teacher?

That's irrelevant. You still have a duty of care to notify line managers if a pupil is high in school.

"What would you do, MagicClass, if you were in the OP's position, called for SMT and were told, "If the lesson was more engaging this wouldn't happen", or, "try listening to the pupils instead of asking us to deal with it. You are not meeting their needsd" (despite obvious behaviour that shows they are on something)?"

I would either leave and find a school that appreciated my efforts or I would make the results speak for themselves and make SMT eat their words by succeeding with the pupils.

However, I can't see how you could : "make the results speak for themselves and make SMT eat their words by succeeding with the pupils" if you were unable to even teach because of the pupils who destroyed any chance of this were too high on drugs to prevent their behaviour happening.

How do you do this if you aren't able to teach (through no fault of anything you do) and you are stuck with pupils who are impossible to deal with because they are high on drugs?
(SMT refuse to even acknowledge they are a problem).

I can't see how this is possible if you understand the scenario I'm setting you.........

tulip_83 - this is a child protection issue and your concerns need to be passed on to designated person. You will have reasons for suspicion and you don't have to prove anything - that's why we all have CP training, so we can recognise signs. Pass on exactly what you have noticed, using whatever concern sheet your school has. You may be wrong, but you may be right, in which case school has to try and do something.
You can't deal with this personally in the classroom - if they are not disruptive get on with lessons as usual.

Not sure I understand post 10: I have said that I am no longer a teacher so I assume you know this. This has never happened to me but lots of people have explained they are in this situation on TES over the years. It happens a lot.

I'd leave teaching totally if this did happen to me. What else could I do if I was stuck in a job I couldn't properly do with no other chance of escape?

Are you going to actually answer a question and
(i) say what you'd do in this situation
(ii) answer the question posed in post 9 (similar question, really)
(iii) at least comment on the question I've pose on the 'berries' thread, ie do you agree that if there are no consequences to actions, as there are for some pupils (teachers are blamed for poor behaviour of pupils), there is no reason to behave, and bad behaviour will continue?

"Oh, and how do you leave and get a job in a different school with SMT writing references that mean no one will want to employ you?
(Welcome to the real world of teaching for many teachers)."

I would go on supply and build up a new set of references. In many cases if you go on supply at a school and you fit in, if they really want you they will overlook a bad reference based on their first hand experience of your teaching. Besides, supply can be a great route into a full time post - gives you more chance to see what the school is really like and chance to spot an unsupoortive SMT before you sign the contract.